Patrick Mahomes led another Super Bowl comeback, this time on an injured ankle. But the Chiefs’ win over the Eagles was marred by sloppy turf and questionable officiating. Here are our winners and losers from Super Bowl Sunday.
Every week this NFL season, we will celebrate the electric plays, investigate the colossal blunders, and explain the inexplicable moments of the most recent slate. Welcome to Winners and Losers. Which one are you?
Winner: Patrick Mahomes
At the end of his fifth season as an NFL starter, Patrick Mahomes already has the résumé of an NFL Hall of Famer. He won his second MVP on Thursday night after leading the NFL in passing yardage and passing touchdowns this season, and topped it off with a second Super Bowl championship and a second Super Bowl MVP on Sunday against the Eagles.
Mahomes threw three passing touchdowns in Kansas City’s 38-35 win, but his most important play might have been a gutty scramble. Just three weeks after suffering an ankle injury against the Jaguars and after re-aggravating that injury in the second quarter, he broke off a 26-yard run—his longest of the entire season—to get Kansas City into the red zone in a tie game with three minutes to go, helping setting up an easy game-winning field goal:
It’s the second Super Bowl in which Mahomes has led a double-digit second-half comeback: In 2020, the Chiefs trailed 20-10 at the end of the third quarter; on Sunday, they trailed 24-14 at halftime. In the fourth quarter of those two games, he’s thrown four touchdowns and one interception.
Mahomes only had 182 passing yards and averaged fewer than 7 yards per attempt. He didn’t have any of his signature miracle throws; Eagles QB Jalen Hurts had more passing yards and more highlights. But in four hours of football, Mahomes made no mistakes. He had no turnovers and despite being pressured on 25.9 percent of his dropbacks, he was never sacked. He completed 21 of 27 passes, and two of his incompletions were throwaways, so he essentially hit on 84 percent of his throws. He completed the Chiefs’ entire postseason run with zero interceptions. Mahomes is usually spectacular; in the Super Bowl, he was dependable—and that was what the Chiefs needed as they roared back to win their second title in four years.